Sir Barnett Janner, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, reported here today that the situation of Polish Jewry, far from improving, was in fact, deteriorating despite protests from various parts of the world against the Warsaw Government’s officially inspired anti-Jewish campaign. Sir Barnett spoke at a memorial meeting of the Board of Deputies marking the 25th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. He said the committee would consider the question of a boycott of Polish products.
The deputies observed a minute of silence in memory of the European Jews destroyed by the Nazis. It followed the recitation of a special prayer by Chief Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits of the British Commonwealth. The meeting was also addressed by Dr. S. Levenberg, representative of the Jewish Agency, who criticized a British loan to Jordan because that country is “the main base for terrorist activity against Israel.”
A mass meeting here to mark the anniversary and to honor the memory of six million Jews slaughtered by the Nazis was told by Jacob Halevy, chairman of the British section of the World Jewish Congress, that the “vicious campaign” of the Polish Government had been extended from attacks on the small surviving Jewish community in Poland to Jewish communities and organizations all over the world. He charged that the Warsaw regime had deliberately prevented Jews from attending the inauguration of the Jewish pavilion at Auschwitz yesterday by insisting on holding the ceremonies on Saturday, the Sabbath and the last day of Passover, despite appeals from Jews all over the world to re-schedule the event.
Dr. Solomon Gaon, chief rabbi of the British Sephardic Jewish community, hailed the unity of the Jewish people which, he said, was always based on ethical concepts and ideals. “It was this ideal that animated the agonizing struggle of our brothers and sisters in the Warsaw Ghetto,” he said. “They knew their battle had no chance of practical success and they faced defeat and annihilation. But they also knew that active resistance would signal further advances in the cause of all humanity,” Dr. Gaon said. Simon Friesner, chairman of the Polish Jewish ex-Servicemen’s Association, charged that the Polish Communist Party was trying to re-write history by claiming that the ghetto uprising was organized by the Polish underground movement and that Jews played only a subsidiary role.
Alderman Michael Fidler, president of the Board of Deputies, noted that “the appalling conditions in the Warsaw Ghetto did not quench the spirit of those who survived up to the spring of 1943. They took up arms to defend their honor and the honor of the Jewish people,” he said. David Kerr, a member of Parliament, expressed the hope that “means will soon be provided for a suitable memorial in this country to the Jewish martyrs of Europe.”
The memorial rally was sponsored by the Polish-Jewish ex-Servicemen in association with the Board of Deputies. Children lit six candles on the platform in memory of the six million European Jews. The rally was attended by Ambassador Aharon Remez, of Israel and members of the Israel Embassy staff. Also present were Warsaw Ghetto survivors and survivors from other ghettoes and concentration camps.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
